8 'Cbe Conservative *
is IOBS complete a thick , colorless
syrup , glucose , is produced. To make
a table syrup of glucose , 10 per cent
of cane syrup , sorghum or molasses is
added.
A Commercial Blunder of Years Ago.
The grape sugar taken from starch
does uot resemble cane sugar , for the
large amount of water in the corn
product prevents crystalizatiou or
granulation. There was wild excite
ment in sugar in 1880 when a chemist
extracted a water-free sugar from
corn starch. It had the appearance
of the granulated product from cane ,
and after mixing it with the cane
sugar , the whole could bo sold at a
price much lower than the old style
sugar. New fortunes were in sight , and
in Chicago a great factory was soon
in operation. Thousands of barrels of
corn sugar , mixed with the Louisiana
product , were rushed to the market ,
but soon they were coming back.
Buyers said it in no way resembled
the standard granulated sugar. When
a barrel was opened it was found to
contain one solid lump of sugar. The
manufacturers had overlooked some
thing ill their hunt for money the
water-free corn sugar had absorbed
the moisture in the cane sugar and
the whole combined and hardened.
All the efforts to overcome the defect
failed and the new factories became
idle. Now about all the water-free
sugar made is . used in the manufac
ture of beer and wiuo.
With the main body of starch and
the'germ of the kernel used , the hull ,
or bran , and gluten are left. The
gluten is dried in filter presses and in
its dry state about one-third of it is
starch , which the chemists are unable
to extract As glut.cn meal it is fed
to cattle and mixed with the bran it
becomes gluten feed.
In all about forty derivatives , or
by-products are made from the kernel
of corn. The Corn Products company ,
as has be'en said , buys only shelled
corn. The cobs and "husks are left be
hind for other uses and the stalks
have found their place as forage.
The Glucose-Starch Combination.
The company to control the starch
and glucose business in America was
finally organized last'Monday in New
York , with 80 million dollars capital.
These directors were elected : . O. H.
Matthiessen , W. J. Calhoun , Joy
Morton , Edward L. Wemple , Norman
B. Beam , E. T. Bedford , E. O.
Matthiessen , E. V. Hoigot and Ben
jamin Graham. The board organized
bv ejecting the following officers :
President and chairman of the execu
tive committee , O. H. Matthiesseu ;
vicn president , W. J. Calhouu ; second
vice president , Joy-Morton ; secretary ,
Ed ward , L.Wemplo ; treasurer , Ben-
jamin Graham. The principal con
stituents of this "community of inter
ests" are the National Starch com
pany and the Glucose Syrup Refining
company. The glucose company itself
was organized -only four years ago
and was a big trust in itself , with a
capital stock of 40 million dollars.
That concentration of interests and
development of by-products are profit
able is shown in the fact that the
Glucose Syrup Refining company paid
7 per cent on its 14 million dollars
preferred stock last year and 6 per
cent on the 26 million dollar common
stock. Mr. Matthiessen , president of
the now 80 million dollar combina
tion , is also president of the glucose
company. With its 40 million dollars
capital it owned and operated only
five factories the American Glucose
Works , Peoria , 111. ; the Rockford ,
Sugar Refining company , Rockford ,
111. ; the Davenport Sugar Refining
company , Davenport , la. ; the Finn en -
ich Manufacturing company , Mar-
shalltown , la. , and the Chicago Sugar
defining company , Chicago. The
Peoria Grape Sugar company's plant
was also bought by the glucose com
pany , but it burned and was not re
built. When the owners of these con
cerns sold their plants to or entered
tlie glucose combination they signed
a contract not to engage in the glu
cose business within 1,200 miles of
Chicago , which meant they would
stay out as independent concerns , for
the 1,200 mile clause took in the In
dian corn district of the entire world.
The National Starch company , an
other great constituent of the glucose-
starch combination , has two glucose
plants , one in Waukegan , 111. , and
one in Glen Cove , N. Y. Its starch
factories are scattered from Nebraska
City to Oswego , N. Y. Other con
cerns controlled by the Corn Products
company are the Charles Pope Glucose
plants in Geneva , 111. , and Venice ,
111. ; the Illinois Sugar Refining Co. ,
Pekin , 111. , and the New York Glu
cose company , Shadyside , N. J. In
all of the plants about 7,000 persons
will be employed.
Mr. Matthiesson , head of the com
panies , is still under 40 , and his sal
ary is said to exceed $60.000 a year.
Fifteen years ago he was paid $12 a
vfeek by the Chicago Sugar Refining
company , now 'in his combination.
The Glucose Syrup-Refining company
vfas the result of his efforts , as is the
present Corn Products company. Pay
ing dividends is the line ho works
on.
As to the Effect on the Market.
That the development of byproducts
ducts will have some , effect on the
price of corn sobms nearly certain ,
although , it is uot accepted as a fact
by grain jlealers , The normal corn
crop'of the United States is about
2,100 million bushels and the normal
export is around 200 millou bushels.
But when corn is high Europe does
not buy. Of last year's short crop
probably less than 50 million bushels
will reach Europe. In the case of the
Corn Products company it must buy
whether corn is sixty cents or thirty
cents , for idle plants mean a loss. As
a combination it can fix the1 prices of
its products and operate profitably
with high priced- corn , providing its
manufactured goods are so necessary
to the consumerthat ho will pay the
increased price. That seems to be
the situation this yearfor the glucose
plants are busy despite the price of
corn. Although a regular customer
in the corn market , the Products
company's purchases for a year will
probably have little direct effect on
the prices for a year , as 75 million
bushels are a very small proportion of
the 2,100 million grown annually in
the American corn belt. Kansas City
Star.
POPULAR ELECTION OF UNITED
STATES SENATORS.
[ Convocation address of Charles S. Lobin-
gier , of the University of Nebraska , March
Ifith , liXW. ]
The question of electing United
States senators by popular vote has
again been brought into prominence
of late , in several ways. The legisla
tures of eight states , including our
own , have recently memorialized con
gress in favor of the change , while al
together thirty states have done so at
some time in the past. Only last
month the national house of repre
sentatives unanimously and for the
fourth time passed a resolution for a
constitutional amendment for this
purpose and the plan is now before
the country perhaps more prominently
than over before. '
Arguments from the Standpoint of the
Senate.
The old arguments in its favor have
usually related to the Senators them
selves rather than to the bodies which
elect them. It has become the fashion
in some quarters to speak of the
United States senate as the "Ameri
can House of Lords" or the "Million
aires' Club" on account of the fact
that within the last quarter century
men have been elected to seats in it
whoso chief distinction has boon
\yealth rather than statesmanship.It
is Qlaimed that this would disappear
under a system of popular election
and that senators would become moro
truly the representatives of the pee
ple. But wo must judge of this
from political conditions as they are.
Wo must inquire whether the average
governor or congressman is really
olpser to the people than the average